91传媒

Evaluation is a recurring club topic, and with good reason. Evaluations take up one-third of a typical 91传媒 meeting, and they are the main mechanism through which we learn, grow and improve. Without evaluations, we鈥檇 just be a bunch of people sitting in a room talking at each other.

Knowing how to evaluate effectively is one of the best things you can do to help your fellow club members grow. Consider these tips.

A conversation, not a monologue

A good speech evaluation is a multi-step process. It鈥檚 like a conversation, starting before the meeting and ending after it.

As you know, Pathways levels introduce new elements of speech-crafting and leadership serially, so that new skills are layered on top of one another. Each speech has a specific objective, which allows evaluators to specifically assess how well the speaker fulfills them.

The easiest way to decipher the speech objectives is to look at the Pathways project evaluation form. The speaker should provide you with the feedback form so you can fill it out during the meeting.

You can鈥檛鈥攁nd shouldn鈥檛鈥攃ritique every detail of the speech. Knowing the speech objectives will help you to focus your evaluation on specific, actionable feedback.

Know your audience(s)

Who is your target audience? 鈥淭he speaker,鈥� you say? Wrong! OK, not wrong鈥攊n fact, you鈥檙e right. But an even better answer would be 鈥淭he speaker鈥攁nd everyone else in the room.鈥�

The target audience for a spoken evaluation is the club itself. Every member and guest should be able to take something from the evaluation and apply it to their next speech. A good in-club speech evaluation, then, should be full of universal feedback, backed up by specific examples from the speaker鈥檚 speech.

Here鈥檚 an example: 鈥淚鈥檝e seen you speak three times, and each time, you鈥檝e ended up with your hands in the pockets of your sport coat. Try to keep your hands out and relaxed.鈥�

This is very speaker-specific; another member listening to this might think, This obviously doesn鈥檛 apply to me; I don鈥檛 even own a sport coat.

Contrast that with the following: 鈥淚 noticed that your hands were in your pockets for much of the speech. To me, closed body language like this conveys a lack of confidence. Using more open, confident body language might help the audience to buy into your message even more.鈥�

Here, the feedback is universal: closed body language shows a lack of confidence. The speaker now remembers what to do with his hands. Others will hear the observation and have additional thoughts, such as Don鈥檛 cross arms over body or Don鈥檛 hang on to the lectern so tight that knuckles turn white.

Super-specific feedback aimed at one speaker or one speech still has a place in the evaluation process, but it should come later in the written evaluation and/or a one-on-one conversation.

For example, imagine you are evaluating a non-native English speaker. During the in-club evaluation, you could say, 鈥淚 noticed that you started speaking more quickly as the speech went on, and there were a couple of words that I didn鈥檛 quite catch. Take your time and articulate each word.鈥� Other non-native (and native) English speakers can benefit from that advice.

After the meeting, in written feedback or in a one-on-one conversation, you can tell the speaker, 鈥淚 noticed that you tend to say the word 鈥榚ssentially鈥� when I think you mean to say 鈥榚specially.鈥欌�� That feedback addresses an idiosyncrasy that likely wouldn鈥檛 help anyone else in the club. The speaker still needs to hear it, but the evaluation speech is not the right venue.

Do your homework and focus on specific objectives. Recognize the difference between universal and speaker-specific feedback. You鈥檒l ensure the evaluations you give are effective and beneficial鈥攏ot only to the speaker, but for everyone in your club.